


Push and Pull

by Dain



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe, F/F, Fragmented Narration, Spirits
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-06
Updated: 2014-09-06
Packaged: 2018-02-16 08:04:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,384
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2262135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dain/pseuds/Dain
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There’s something fascinating about the girl with white hair – Katara can’t take her eyes off of her, and when their eyes meet, it’s as if something inside of her clicks.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Push and Pull

Usually, when a child is born with white hair, it is accompanied by pale skin and poor vision. But Yue’s skin is brown, her vision no worse than average, and her parents puzzle over the anomaly of their daughter’s pearly locks.

Yue’s mother mentions, briefly, that she’d heard a story about a child being born with white hair and brown skin from her own parents, and that perhaps this is not so unusual, merely rare. As Yue seems perfectly healthy, the matter becomes of little concern in the face of raising a child.

///

When she’s ten, Katara falls through a patch of thin ice.

The shock drags her down before she can even think to struggle, and no matter how hard she tries, the water won’t obey her. She sinks down, down, down – the hole is probably frozen over again.

And then, suddenly, there’s a flash of light, and she’s back on the ice, perfectly dry. She keeps the incident to herself, and soon it fades in her memory until she assumes that it was no more than a bad dream.

///

Visiting the Spirit Oasis is supposed to be a solemn, alien experience, something one does to pay homage to powers greater than oneself, but to Yue it feels like a rather friendly, inviting place, similar to the nostalgia she feels for the places that had been her favorites as a very small child. She feels safe and at home there, and often visits without her family, simply for the joy of sitting at the edge of the empty pool and dreaming.

///

The North Pole is beautiful, and Katara’s heart swells with excitement at the thought of finally being taught by a master. The city of ice and water consumes her, and she can hardly stop herself from leaping off the boat and making her own path.

Another boat passing by catches her eye. There’s something fascinating about the girl with white hair – Katara can’t take her eyes off of her, and when their eyes meet, it’s as if something inside of her _clicks_.

///

Yue is sure that she’s never seen the girl on the boat before, but still she seemed familiar. She’s pleasantly surprised to find that the two of them are sitting next to each other at the feast that night, and spends the evening talking with Katara. A few times she catches Katara watching her during lulls in the conversation, but in all fairness, the only reason she notices is because she’s watching Katara, as well.

At the end of dinner, Katara suggests that they meet the next evening, and Yue happily agrees.

///

Leaving the North Pole is going to be difficult, Katara thinks.

The business with Master Pakku had been disappointing and disillusioning, and though Yue had regretfully told her that that was just the way things were, Katara had fought for and won a place as a trainee waterbender. Everything has been smooth and sweet from there on out – waterbending with Aang and the other students during the day, walks with Yue around the city in the evenings. The routine is comfortable and enjoyable, the city still keeping secrets from her after weeks of exploring, just enough so that it never becomes dull. She is, in short, quite in love.

///

There is something undeniably _right_ about being at Katara’s side. Yue can’t quite define it, but Katara seems to fill in some sort of space that she had never realized was empty. There is a sort of tug inside her – a physical sensation, not solely emotional – when they’re together, and Yue fears that if she questions it too closely, it will fall apart.

There is something undeniably right about kissing her, too, and Yue can’t find the strength to protest.

///

Katara can’t believe she hadn’t thought to introduce Yue to Appa earlier, but their carefree ride through the clouds (with maybe a stolen kiss or two) is jarringly interrupted when it begins to snow black.

The impending invasion leaves everyone on edge and anxious – all but Yue, who maintains her demeanor of quiet serenity. Katara relies on her steady presence, drawing from her stability and calm to ease her own nerves and prepare herself for the coming battle.

In a brief moment of solitude, Yue confesses that she’s terrified of the approaching war. All Katara can do is return her strength to her, and they wrap their arms around each other.

///

Yue is comforted, at least, by Katara’s instructions to protect her. The feeling is perhaps a little selfish, as she’s sure Katara wants to be on the front lines, but she’s glad they weren’t separated.

The two of them join Aang in the spirit oasis, and Yue tells, in brief, the story of how there used to be two koi here, in the water, but that they had disappeared before even her grandparents had been born. There had been fear that the disappearance of the koi was a bad omen and that the spirit oasis would die without them, but that had not been the case, and some had whispered that the koi were spirits who had returned to their homes.

Whatever the reason for their disappearance, the oasis remains a spiritual center, and Aang finds little trouble slipping into the Spirit World, letting the quiet murmurs of the two girls behind him lull him into the trance-like state.

///

“Though,” Koh continues, “I had heard that when the Avatar vanished from the world, the two took it upon themselves to go one step further. Rumor has it that the ocean and the moon bonded themselves to human souls, becoming part of two different human reincarnation cycles, quite the same creature you are: spirit and human, joined together as one.

“In fact,” Koh says, “I believe you may have already met them.”

///

“ _Katara_ ,” Aang says in a hushed voice.

///

Maybe if Zuko hadn’t pushed so hard, if he had just given up and accepted defeat, Katara wouldn’t have felt the surge of power and seen the same flash of light from four years ago, when she’d fallen into the ice. She wouldn’t have opened her eyes, exhausted, nad found Yue hovering over her, worry etched into every curve of her face. Yue wouldn’t have recounted the story, half fearful, half in awe, of how Katara’s eyes had glowed white and her waterbending had been incredible.

Maybe then Katara wouldn’t have believed the story Aang brought back from the Spirit World.

///

Yue has no trouble believing that Katara harbors the spirit of the ocean within her; she’s all grace and power, fury and love, just as La is in the stories. What she has trouble accepting is Aang’s insistence that _Yue_ has to be the missing half, the push against Katara’s pull.

Katara, on the other hand, seems more than happy to agree with the Avatar. “Don’t you see?” she asks excitedly. “It makes perfect sense! That’s why there’s been a, a…a connection between us, right from the start!”

“But I’m not even a bender! The moon was the first waterbender, how can I – ” She can’t even finish the statement; it’s ridiculous, too ludicrous for words.

“You’re also human,” Katara offers.

///

Admiral Zhao grits his teeth in frustration when he finds the pond empty. Retired General Iroh mentions mildly that the scrolls he read may have simply been outdated.

///

The overwhelming power of the waterbenders under the still-present full moon combined with the appearance of no less than two glowing figures proves enough to convince even Zhao that this is a battle the Fire Nation cannot win.

Yue has taken shelter near the wall while the other two make a show of strength, and while she meditates she can feel Katara in her mind. She’s no warrior, but she hopes that Aang’s theory about sharing strength with Katara is holding true. She wants to make a difference in this fight.

She feels the relief radiating from Katara that can only mean a victory, and she smiles.

///

“Come with us,” Katara pleads.

“You know I can’t,” Yue murmurs in reply, but she takes both of Katara’s hands between her own. “I have a duty to my people that is best served here. But you’ll come back, when all this is over.” She raises her eyes to meet Katara’s. “Won’t you?”

**Author's Note:**

> basically my thought process here was: if raava can bind to a human soul, why couldn’t another spirit? especially spirits as powerful as tui and la? and, well, there’s never enough yue/katara out there, so.


End file.
